Our Opinion: Top Teen making Springfield a better place

Cody Prosperini is a teenager who, in his own words, “wants to know everything about everything.”

And while he’s working on that, he’s happy to do his part to make Springfield a better place.

The youth of Generation Y — born between 1982 and 2000 — often get rapped for being self-centered, less concerned about helping the world, politically disengaged and lacking work ethic.

But the Gen Y stereotype certainly does not apply to Prosperini, a junior at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School and recipient of this year’s State Journal-Register Top Teen award.

The Top Teen title is given annually to central Illinois teenagers who make a difference in their communities. A panel of teenagers evaluates the nominations and names the finalists.

Academically, Prosperini excels at SHG. He is a straight-A student and scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT. He wants to be a neuroscientist.

But it’s his leadership, compassion and compulsion to help others that set him apart from other youth. For example, he organized car washes as a middle school student to raise money to help the family of a local girl who suffered a traumatic brain injury in a watercraft accident.

“I wanted to show that my generation cares,” he said. “I figured that I was just as good as any other person to start showing that.”

From there, his desire to serve the community grew. He is involved with the Key Club, a Kiwanis International-sponsored group that raises money for nonprofit organizations, such as UNICEF. He raises money and awareness for spastic paralysis research, which seeks to cure diseases of the central nervous system.

He also works on The Eliminate Project, which seeks to eradicate maternal and neonatal tetanus, and raised money for the cause by seeking small donations instead of Halloween candy.

The list of service projects goes on. He’s a student ambassador, representing SHG in the community. He’s worked on food drives, raising about $8,000 each year he’s been in high school. He tutors children after school at St. Patrick Catholic School.

Springfield is a better place because of Prosperini and his passion for learning and helping others.

Congratulations to him and to the other Top Teen finalists: Isabel Butterfield, senior at Williamsville High School; Taylour Jones, senior at Lanphier High School; Jonathan Miller, senior at Williamsville High School; and Rene Runions, sophomore at Rochester High School.

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